By Victoria Ward 6:57PM GMT 26 Jan 2012
The practice was exposed by parking warden Hakim Berkani, 45, who was sacked for refusing to issue large numbers of tickets.

Mr Berkani won his employment tribunal after judge Jeremy Burns ruled that his opposition to the secret quota scheme could not “justify dismissal”.

The father of two, from Wandsworth, south London, lost his job last February after tipping off a driver who was about to be given a ticket.

Mr Berkani claimed that he was harassed and eventually dismissed by NSL, the contractor, because he preferred to warn motorists that they had parked illegally rather than issue a fine.

Details of the minimum quota policy were disclosed in evidence after other wardens revealed that they were under pressure to meet secret targets.Hakim Berkani preferred to warn motorists that they had parked illegally rather than issue a fine
Internal emails suggested that wardens were expected to issue an "absolute minimum" of ten tickets a day to avoid being disciplined.

It was claimed that one colleague was held up as an "excellent example" for issuing 35 tickets, known Penalty Charge Notices, in a single shift.

A letter from an unnamed warden said it was "very difficult to issue a genuine and honest PCN” in the wealthy London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, because the residents were “unbelievable well-behaved”.

Another warden claimed that he was told his PCN productivity was “the worst of all" and a third said he was "targeted" by a supervisor for "not taking part in the dodgy practices” and failing to issue enough tickets

Mr Burns, sitting at the Central London Employment Tribunal, found that Mr Berkani was unfairly dismissed for his "opposition to the respondent's clandestine quote system" and his trade union activity.

He said Mr Berkani only issued tickets as "a last resort" and that disciplinary proceedings against him, following three years of service, were a “sham” designed to get rid of him.

Wardens "felt under considerable pressure” to issue parking tickets, he added, and as a result, “some adopted a predatory and in some cases dishonest rather than co-operative approach to motorists."

Chelsea resident Alasdair Seton-Marsden, 49, a former marketing director and FTSE 100 board director, studied law in order to represent Mr Berkani at the three-day hearing.

I wonder if there'll be any repercussions (hopefully the sack) for those who made the decision to unfairly dismiss Mr. Berkani. There should be no targets for numbers of tickets issued and the directors of NSL should be fined and any council staff proven to approve of the targets should face dismissal themselves.